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嗨(oﾟvﾟ)ノ 我们造访了来自英国的METAL杂志的No.48 spring/summer 2023，一起看看吧～
Glenn Martins, Jessie Ware, James Corbin, Sophie Thatcher, Yue Minjun and Pepo Moreno are some of the protagonists of this new issue filled with good vibes.
It’s impossible to delve into the universe of Nhozagri, Super Nhozagri Kingdom, as she puts it, and not fall head over heels for those delightful creatures with enormous eyes and long lashes, for those pastel shades, for that world that feels like fluffy cotton and is absolutely huggable. Somehow, it connects us with our inner child, carefree and oblivious to everyday problems and the disasters that surround us. That’s why we kick off this issue with this Chinese artist, as we want to explore the brighter side of life, reminding ourselves that there’s always, or at least we should always seek, a moment for joy no matter how tough things get. No, we haven’t created a self-help manual, we haven’t gone all sentimental, and we’re not swimming in sugar-coated seas. We simply decided that for once, we’re going to focus on all the things that make us a little happier, highlighting the good because the bad has its way of creeping in all on its own, always stumbling along.
In this issue, we’re embracing the energy of summer to celebrate the joy, the resilience, and the creativity that shines through even the toughest times. So grab your copy, dive into the pages, and let’s embark on this adventure together. Get ready to be inspired, to be uplifted, and to experience a little slice of happiness. Because in a world that often feels chaotic, we choose to focus on the bright spots, the moments that remind us why life is truly worth celebrating.
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Fluffy green-tinted clouds float atop a yellow-pink sky, so delicious that if you bit the air you’d expect it to be filled with sweet peach juice. It spills from your lips, trickling sticky down your chin. As you go to take another bite a formless voice wafts through the cotton candy air and says softly, “Hi, helloooooooo. Welcome to Super Nhozagri Kingdom!” Who are you?, you reply. “I am king”, says Nhozagri.
You sense that Nhozagri in gearing for you to sit on the cloud, You’re hesitant , you say . “Is it okay? I wouldn’t want to break it,it feels… Wrong to sit on something so beautiful .” The cloud looks fleecy , delicate and yet heavy with filling, like a steamed bun. You think you see one wink at you. and behind its sparkly eyes it tells you a story so quickly you can’t catch it, bet you sense that it was a sad one. Nhozagri doesn’t reply, but when you sit there’s a p palpable reduction in ripeness, cool greens and lines take over as the cloud transforms into wet prass, the smell of it is so overwhelming you don’t know if you’re going to fall asleep or get up and dance. ln the distance you see a silhouette of a colossal, lumpy white mouse with a tiny pink smile and watery blue eyes, and you know that they needyou to hug them. Slowly you float toward each other, and you finally understand what it means to feel light, unburdened. You’ve never felt so…What is it? You can’t put your finger on it. It’s tracing the creases of your skin, the contours of your ears, tingling in the very moisture of your eyes. ln a language you don’t know but do understand, the mouse says, “Joy”, Yes, joyful, that’s it.
credit朱墨
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Let’s read.
L.D:Super Nhozagri Kingdom can be felt but not seen, and you are the medium that gives us the gift of interacting with the Kingdom. Can you recall the first time you felt compelled to make the fantastical place visible to us mere mortals?
N:It’s like an instinct. It’s very difficult to verbally explain what I think, it’s easier to paint it. For kids, it’s very difficult for them to explain things logically, so they use painting or drawing to express themselves. For me, it’s very similar experience.
L.D:That makes sense, especially as play is such a big aspect of your work, which is seen as childlike activity. Do you think people should play more as adults, maybe there are kingdoms of our own we could discover if only we played more.
N:Yes! This is what I’ve been hoping for. I think that being able to play is very important and also very difficult. Right now in our world things are really heavy, so for me the worse l feel about the world, the more I can play. It’s like there’s a scale, and there are two sides. One side is how heavy we’re feeling, and the other side is how much we can play. There’s a balance. I want the audience, when they see the painting, to convert the heavy burden they’re feeling from society into play. That’s my intention.
L.D:What wan your childhood like？
N:It’s definitely related to my childhood. When I was little I’d visualize an imaginary friend who’d live in the basement, When I went out and saw cigarette butts on the ground 1’d bring them home to feed my friend. I’ve never had a real job, like an office job, I’m just like when I was little. I’m still the kid feeding my imaginary friend.
L.D:I’m so jealous! I wish feeding my imaginary friend was my work. I was researching the science of cuteness, and according to studies, cuteness has a hypnotic hold on humans, stimulating the brain’s regions of emotions and reward. Some scientists say that cuteness causes such intense emotion in some that the urge to squish is the brain’s way of extinguishing the overwhelming feeling of joy, Have you ever encountered anything like this in your work?
N:The other side of cuteness is the core value of my creation. For example, I had this work where there were two people quarrelling on both sides, and in the middle part, there was a creek with an angel coming out. It was inspired by the war between Russia and Ukraine. I wanted to show that feedings like compassion can come out of war. like the angel. A sense of mercy, pity, sympathy.
L.D:Another thing about your work is that it’s so tactile. which is something that art doesn’t do, it’s very much don’t touch, it’s all about preservation. Whereas in your work snow sculptures melt, buns are eaten, and your toys are made to be used, loved, and cuddled. So I was wondering what physicality and temporality mean in your work?
N:All my works are about time, When you exhibit an artwork in a gallery or museum, those kinds of pieces are depicting a frozen time block. The audience are just observing this time block that has been preserved by the artist. With the food and the toys, there’s a different kind of creation. Those types of artworks need the participation of the audience, who participate in the entire process of making these works from when they are born until when they die. It’s the entire process. If you remember the steamed bun piece. I asked the audience to eat them. When the viewers’ emotional feelings, their behaviors, their actions, are all part of the work.
L.D:So the pieces have their own individual life spans. instead of existing forever in one state. Since this issue’s theme is Joy, could you tell me a joyful story from one of the molluse baby plushies’ lives?
N:I think I can remember one example. I once did this ty series that had a Chinese theme, called Chinese Dumpling Thile, all about Chinese dumplings. Each and every dumpling had their own story. There was one dumpling who was half broken, you could see in its eyes that it was so terrified because what was inside was almost coming out and it felt that human beings were going to come and eat it and then go. Another little creature from the series is the plate. You can see that a tiny piece of shrimp and garlic are its eyes. They’re both the most memorable little creatures that I can remember.
L.D:It’s interesting that you can often see snapshots of their individual stories in their eyes because it’s the same with peoples you catch a glimpse of what they’ve experienced in their eyes, but not the full picture. People from all cultures have a rich mythology, is that the same for the Kingdom?
N:The idea of mythology is a little bit different in Chinese. could you explain what you mean?
L.D:Like old fairytales and folklore. Stories from the past.
N:Yes! There’s definitely mythology. In the world there are layers beneath layers. like onions, it’s unlimited.
L.D:What are the layers mode up of ？
N:”The layer” is very similar to a parallel world, and also like the different insights of human beings on the same thing. When our thoughts change, the layers also change; It’ like the sun changing light and shadow chough the gaps of different shapes.
It works in this way: there are countless concreteness’s behind our surface consciousness. When you uncover the surface consciousness, you will find that the shallow consciousness is connected with one another, and the deeper is the collective subconscious of human beings. When we cofounder this collective subconscious, we will find that everyone is God, and l am you. When we go to another level of consciousness, we will pick up our creature, that is, everyone has his own god, and everyone is also a citizen from Saper Nhozagri Kingdom.
L.D:Your work has been in multiple different realms; digital, physical, painterly, and sonic. Often in exhibitions, these forms come together to form an immersive experience. Do you plan to take this immersive side of your work further?
N:The immersive experience was still just an idea. I’m planning to do more but it’s not a very complete concede. There are so many new technologies coming our and they’re just happening so fast that i can’t really catch the wave. All of these new artistic medium are just a presentation on the surface level. I think that there’s actually no difference between these more immersive mediums and painting itself. I’ve crested some immersive, or more like spiritual experiences. I did one with Beijing. Contemporary, the art fair, which was a project for the after parry. It was an experimental project where I was focusing on reperch, meditation and music, using sound to create architectures. By listening to make people see things. It was mort spiritual, about the origin of the universe, about discovery and touch. Everyone can come and touch it, and once you touch it you can understand s little bit of the origin of the world.
L.D:So you don’t need to create s whole environment when you can just listen or touch.
N:I’m only using materials that I’m incrusted in at this particular moment, because if you have enough interest in these mediums, then you are going to encounter more possibilities when you’re cresting.
L.D:Speaking of spirituality, you’ve mentioned before that Taoism Informas your practice in some ways. Could you tell me a bit more about thar?
N:It’s not really Taoism. For me, al religion and spirituality are talking about the same thing, What influences me the most is s type of mediation called theta, it’s all about touch.
L.D:The depth definitely shines through. You’ve delves into the fashion world, and have collaborated with Lazy Oaf and Mare Jacobs, so far. Do you have any dream collaborators?
N:I have a lot of new plans coming up relating to fashion. At the end of 2024 I’m going to create a window display for Marc Jacobs. I also have a collaboration with GQ magazine where I’m going to create a digital, moving cover, It’ll be related to the printed magazine cover. But the digital version will be an animation or something like thar. I have another brilliant idea. too. I want to do a faïence exhibition that’s actually a performance. This performance isa fashion runway show. I want to do it where there’s only one painting, and the model will wear it from winter to summer, it’s unlimited. So you can wear it throughout the entire four seasons, for the entire year. The whole concept behind it is that everyone only needs one painting.
L.D:So there’s a sustainability message in there as well.
N:I hadn’t thought of that, but now that you mention it that really makes sense. I’m the kind of person who really the material world. So yes, there is a sense of sustainability.
L.D:If that’s how you feel it’d make sense that would happen naturally: What is it that’s inspiring you to work with fashion at the moment?
N:Art and fashion are actually about the same thing They’re about beauty. Art is about presenting something visually beautiful, and fashion is about how to dress someone beautifully, so at the end of the day it’s the same thing.
L.D:It also connects with your emphasis on touch and experiencing art physically, it doesn’t get more physical than wearing the art on your body, feeling it on your skin.So colour appears to be central to your artwork. napping into the Kingdom is like being in a candy store. and they evoke such intense feelings, I was wondering if you think about the meaning of the colors when you create?
N:I rarely choose colors. When I go to the shops, I only buy a few colors, the same colors, because they’re mote related to my feelings, colors that speak to me spiritually,
L.D:So it feels natural to gravitate towards these particular colors. It’s interesting that you choose them based on feelings, because they definitely emit a sense of emotion.
N:There’s another layer to it. The colors themselves make me feel comfortable. And the behavior itself, the behavior of purchasing these color makers me feel comfortable because I don’t have to think about other colors outside those that I usually gravitate towards. I only go to these colors. This makes me feel very comfy. and maybe that’s because I’m just lazy, I’m always going after the same ones.
L.D:They work well, so why would you change them! It also turns it into a ritual. Are there things we can learn from the creatures in Super Nhozagri Kingdom? As you’ll know, sometimes us human beings get things really wrong.
N:Those little beings, whenever they make a mistake, they’ll always be forgiven.
L.D:We’re not very good at forgiving.
N:There’s this phrase that’s super popular on the Chinese internet right now, it’s “how evil can these little beings be,”
L.D:That sounds about right. Finally, how do you find joy when things feel joyless, as they often can?
N:Just feel joyless. It’s really just like painting, when you feel joyless, you just need to use all your senses to feel how joyless it is. When it’s gone, it’s gone.
L.D:Otherwise, it’ll come up later,
N:Yes, because the feeling of being joyless is also a very valuable feeling to human beings, just like when you feel joy. That’s why I want to feel it.
L.D:That’s interesting because most people’s natural impulse is to avoid sadness. But I guess you can’t have one without the other, either.It also relates back to earlier with the two sides of cuteness, that your audience converts their heaviness to lightness through play, through your work.
N:With my imaginary friend on a psychological level. yes, it is connected. But when I’m experiencing it, I’m just experiencing it, I wasn’t thinking about what I was getting out of it when I was playing with my friend. But after the experience hu finished and you can look at it as an outcome you can realize, that yes, that is what happened.
L.D:It’s creativity in its purest form.
N:It’s just like building an amusement park. When you’re in construction and everyone’s working on it, it is a painful experience. However, once it’s built everyone comes here and they only get joy.
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METAL was born in June 2006 in Barcelona as an independent publishing project with a curious eye and an international spirit, a heady mix of fashion, photography and art whose pages can boast some of the hottest talents of the moment. METAL is published twice a year, is available in more than 25 countries and has positioned itself as an A-list magazine. Besides the print magazine, METAL also offer new and exclusive online content.
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To buy the magazine, click on the link below.(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)”
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Congratulations on recording another memory link.
See you next time.(☍﹏⁰)
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